Aston Villa 2 – 1 Burnley

Donyell Malen scored twice as Aston Villa beat Burnley 2-1 to register their first back-to-back Premier League wins of the campaign.

In fact, including Europa League games, Unai Emery’s side have now won their last four matches as their early season slump appears to be over.

Villa were criticised last season for underperforming in the league after their midweek European matches, but showed no ill-effects on Sunday after a dramatic encounter with Feyenoord just three days before.

It was a defence-splitting pass from Boubacar Kamara that found Malen unmarked through the middle. He drove into the box and, despite being pushed wide by Maxime Esteve, managed to fire home on a tight angle to give Aston Villa the lead.

Burnley registered their first shot in the 35th minute as Josh Cullen drew a glancing save from Emi Martinez, which was the Clarets’ only registered effort until their goal.

Aston Villa continued to miss chances to put the game to bed either side of the break, but finally made one count as Malen scored again just after the hour.

Morgan Rogers picked the Dutchman out down the right of the box and once again on an acute angle, Malen struck past Martin Dubravka to double Aston Villa’s lead.

But Burnley made sure of a tense finish as Lesley Ugochukwu nodded home. It came from Quilindschy Hartman’s corner, with the midfielder’s effort wriggling through Martinez’s legs.

Aston Villa twice stung the palms of Dubravka in the final moments – Rogers and Lucas Digne the culprits – while Emi Buendia was forced off with concussion in added time. He managed to walk off the pitch despite the stretcher being brought on.

Villa saw the remainder of the game out without incident to claim another three points of the season. It moves them up into 13th on nine points, while Burnley remain in the bottom three with four points from seven games.

More to follow.

Story of the match in stats…

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